Pokemon: A New Beginning Retold
by BlazeDarklight
Summary: Follow Jason, an 18 year old thats finally getting a chance to go on a Pokemon Journey. A Retelling of an unfinished story.
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey Guys! Its been a while hasn't it?**_

_**I bet you're wondering what I have here, huh?**_

_**Its just a little rewrite of my original Pokemon story. I thought it would be a good idea to rewrite that story as it was a decade old at this point and I think I have improved as a writer at this point.**_

_**This will just be an updated retelling of A New Beginning, since you know, a lot has been added to the Pokemon story as a whole since the story was originally written.**_

_**I won't ramble on too much. Just enjoy the story !**_

**CHAPTER ONE**

**PARTNERS**

There were always two of them. Two great Heroes. One battling for Truth and Justice, the other battling for Ideals and Will. In times of great need the two would appear and though the two believed in different things, they would always work together to bring a peaceful balance to the Pokémon World. This prophecy has been all but forgotten to time…

…..

The battlefield was set, and two trainers looked at each other from a distance. Jason Malone, a novice, yet mentally experienced Pokémon Trainer; stared at his younger sister Amy, who despite being young, was an adept learner and showed much resolve to become a trainer.

Between the two trainers stood a young boy, Jeremy. Jason's younger brother and Amy's twin. He showed more adept towards refereeing; having an interest in the logistics and legalities to making a fair and true Pokémon battle.

"Amy, are you ready?" Jason called from the battlefield. "Shinx and I won't go easy on you, so you and Charmander better give it your all!"

"Don't worry Jason!" Amy responded. "Charmander and I have prepared for today. We're going to give it a full one-hundred percent of our power!"

Jason grabbed the only Pokeball that had been attached to the belt tightly wrapped around his waist. It contained his best and only partner, a Shinx that his father had gifted him for a birthday present – a remnant of his short trip to the Sinnoh Region, and threw it to the air.

The spherical machinery opened, sending out a flashing red laser, releasing a Pokémon capsuled by the very same red light. The light dispersed and from it, arrived Shinx – a lion cub with a body colored an aquatic blue and coal black. The thin black tail attached to his rear whipped around, a bright yellow star attached to it.

Amy grabbed the Pokeball from her waist, containing Charmander, and tossed it into the air, sending the amber red lizard-like Pokémon into the grass. Charmander was a gift from Jason, and the two had a powerful bond with each other from the day she had turned four years old to the current day, where she stood almost abnormally intelligent at only eight.

"The field is set!" Jeremy called out. "The battle is Shinx versus Charmander! BEGIN!"

Jeremy quickly took several steps back, bringing out two flags, mere toys of his ongoing youthful days, a blue one representing Jason's side, and a bright red one, representing Amy's side, swinging them downwards to give the secondary call to begin.

"Shinx!" Jason called, attracting the lion cub's attention. "Start this battle off with full strength, use your Spark attack!"

Shinx's entire body became covered in electrical sparks that formed an offensive strike around itself, and it took off running towards Charmander.

"Charmander, keep your distance!" Amy called. "Use your Ember attack on the grass to create a shield around yourself!"

Charmander gave a responsive grin to his young trainer, pulling itself back as its mouth ignited with small flames. It lurched forward, jaw dropping as the flames spread over a wide area, creating a half circle shape to halt Shinx's progress towards him.

As the barrier of flames hit the dry grass and created a weak fire, Shinx paused, the electricity dispersed from its body.

"Shinx, jump above the flames and use Swift!" Jason called out.

Shinx took a leap, claiming height above the flames, getting a good sight of Charmander. The yellow star on its tail flashing white as it began to charge up the attack, one that would be unavoidable.

"Sorry Shinx, can't let you finish charging that attack!" Amy chided. "Charmander, meet Shinx in the air with a Scratch attack!"

Charmander quickly leaped into the air, the small white claws on its right paw doubling in size and shining, as it contacted Shinx, sending it flying backwards with the attack, which made direct contact with Shinx's exposed stomach.

Shinx rolled backwards in recoil, the small Pokémon hitting the ground and rolling a couple feet as the wall of flames finally died down. Shinx returned to its paws, one eye partially closed due to the damage it had sustained, and its legs shaking just slightly.

"It's time to change up our approach, Shinx!" Jason called out. "Use Thunder Wave!"

"Charmander, rush Shinx with a flurry of your Scratch attacks!" Amy retorted.

Charmander attempted to rush Shinx, however was quickly stopped when thin bars of electricity shot from Shinx's tail, one hitting its chest directly, causing it to stop moving, becoming frozen like a statue.

"Yes!" Jason exclaimed. "Thunder Wave worked, now Charmander's fully paralyzed! Alright Shinx, your strongest move, it's time for Thunder Fang!"

Shinx ran towards the paralyzed Pokémon, its tiny, yet sharp white fangs becoming electrified as it bit into Charmander's shoulder, causing a pained roar to echo from the Pokémon's maw. Shinx jumped into the air, still fang deep into Charmander, and let go mid-air.

"Now Shinx, let's finish this with Swift!" Jason commanded, as Shinx's tail star began shining white again.

Shinx whipped itself around the star on its tail summoning and shooting a rapid number of stars, all following Charmander as it fell from mid-air, causing it to fall and slam into the soft dirt, making dirt to kick up into the air as dust.

When the dust cleared, Charmander's eyes had become swirls – the combination of attacks from Shinx caused it to faint in battle.

Jeremy then sent the blue flag into the air, holding the red flag downwards. "Jason Malone is the victor of the battle!" He called, giving a bright smile.

Jason let out a sigh of relief. That battle was close; in fact every time Amy and he battle she got closer and closer to beating him. Guess that said a lot to how quickly Amy was learning.

Amy quickly ran over to her Charmander and wrapped her arms around her fainted Pokémon.

"Good Job, Charmander. We almost won this time." She said to her Pokémon as its eyes returned to normal and it looked at her with a sad look.

Shinx collapsed down, belly first, onto the ground. Tired from its battle, the small electric cat Pokémon let out a sigh. Jason jogged over to the pooped out Pokémon.

"Hey, good job girl." He said as he knelt down next to Shinx. "I'm very proud of you."

Shinx looked up at him with a tired smile. Jeremy ran onto the battlefield, he stopped near the two trainers and their Pokémon.

"Are they both going to be okay?" He asked.

Jason scooped up Shinx in his arms and stood up. Amy and Charmander both stood up, Charmander wobbled around a bit, but was able to maintain its balance.

"Yeah, I think they're both good." Jason spoke. "Shinx just needs to rest inside for a bit. You two go play and I'll go get dinner started soon."

The two kids cheered and both ran off further into the backyard with Charmander not to far behind. Jason looked towards his younger siblings as they ran off and started playing. With a slight, amused chuckle he turned back towards their house and made his way back inside.

Once inside Shinx wiggled slightly in his grasp, an indication that she wanted to be let down. Jason obliged and set her down after he had closed the back down.

The backdoor of their house led into a small dining area and into a big kitchen. Shinx slowly made her way to her bed, which was located near the kitchen, and curled up inside of it. Jason took one last look at his siblings through a window located in the dining room just to make sure they were okay.

Afterwards he headed over to a laptop that was left on the kitchen counter, opened it up and took it out of sleep mode. After a few seconds of navigating his bookmarks, he opened up a video on YouTube. The video appeared to be a young woman sitting in what looked to be a recording studio. He played the most recent upload and then moved into the kitchen to start preparing dinner for the three of them.

"Hey everyone and welcome to the Kanto Report Podcast." A young woman's voice spoke. "I'm Zandra Ashmore and today we will be going over the latest happenings across the Kanto Region and maybe even beyond."

Jason always tried to catch the Kanto Report live, but occasionally happenstance would keep him from doing so. He actually only watched it because Zandra Ashmore was his favorite Pokémon Youtuber. She covered a wide variety of Pokémon topics that were helpful to Trainers, Breeders, and just normal people who lived with Pokémon.

Jason was busy in the kitchen with the podcast playing in the background. He would stop once in a while and intently listen to what was being talked about on the Podcast. Different guest commentators were introduced onto the podcast to be interviewed. Zandra would talk to them for a bit and then they would leave.

It had been close to an hour; Jason was just about done making their dinner. Zandra was now talking about a heartwarming Pokémon/Human interest story that Jason was only half listening to.

"And now to all of Kanto's Pokémon Trainers or inspiring Pokémon Trainers." Ashmore changed stories. "After receiving its last transfers of Pokémon from the Kalos, Alola, and Galar regions, the Pokémon World Zoo in Fuchsia, which was set to open next month, has suffered tremendous setbacks after a technical accident resulted in the over 800 types of Pokémon that called the zoo home to be released into the Kanto wilds." Ashmore was looking over the notes in front of her. "The owner has stated that the zoo will temporarily shut down while the next course of action is reviewed." She then looked away from her notes and looked directly at the camera. "Well looks like all those exotic Pokémon are up for grabs now. There hasn't been a better time to be a Pokémon Trainer in Kanto than now."

During that short report Jason had moved over to the laptop and he paused the video after that last line.

"There hasn't been a better time to be a Pokémon Trainer in Kanto than now."

Those words echoed in his mind.

A Pokémon Trainer is what he had wanted to be when he was younger. Getting to go on a journey, see places far from his home, make new friends, both human and Pokémon. It's what most young children in this world dream of. Typically, a kid wanted to go on a journey would do so between the ages of eleven and fifteen.

Jason was now eighteen years old. Technically an adult, he could still go on a journey, but…

Jason looked over to the window overlooking the backyard. He spotted his siblings, Jeremy and Amy, playing tag with Charmander. One would tag the Pokémon and then try their best to avoid the fire lizard. Jason smiled at the scene.

"No, they're more important right now." He thought to himself.

Suddenly, all three stopped. Jason noticed that they turned to look to the left of the house. Then Amy started to run in that direction with Charmander not too far behind her. Jeremy was already running back towards the house.

"Shinx!" Jason called out as he was already moving towards the back door.

Shinx lazily opened its eyes and looked around. Once she saw her trainer moving towards the door, she quickly jumped up from her bed and was right behind him a moment later.

Jason opened up the back door, only to be met with Jeremy's surprised expression.

"What's going on? What's wrong?" He asked his younger brother.

"We spotted a wild Pokémon." Jeremy pointed in the direction Amy had run.

Jason looked over and spotted his sister and her Charmander standing opposite a green, snake like Pokémon. This Pokémon was bipedal with short arms and legs and it had some yellow around its big eyes.

Jason, Shinx, and Jeremy had already moved over to join Amy. The green Pokémon stared at them, looking them over before returning back to rummaging through the bushes on the side of the house. The Pokémon didn't seem to think them important enough to pay them any mind.

"I don't know what kind of Pokémon you are," Amy shouted out to the Pokémon. "But that's not going to stop me from catching you! Charmander, let's go!" She pointed towards the wild Pokémon.

Charmander, on queue, moved in between its trainer and the Pokémon.

"That's a Snivy, it's a grass type. So you're Charmander should have the advantage." Jeremy informed his sister.

Snivy looked back at the group, confused at why they had started shouting. Once it noticed the Charmander had taken up a defensive stance in front of its trainer, Snivy smirked and moved out of the bushes and prepared itself for a battle.

"Use Ember!" Amy didn't waste time.

Charmander opened its mouth slightly, flames could be seen brimming from its mouth, it aimed for a moment and then unleashed a fireball that blasted its way towards Snivy. Snivy lashed out one of its vines onto the ground a few feet away and then used the vine to move itself out of the path of the Ember attack. Snivy retracted its vine as it landed safely a few feet away.

"What the!?" Amy was taken by surprise at the Grass type's last minute dodge tactics.

Her and Charmander both followed it's movements to its stopping point. Once Snivy landed its brushed itself off and stared at Charmander, egging it on to try again. Charmander growled at the grass Pokémon and readied itself to launch more Ember attacks at its target. The fire type shot one more fireball and then another in quick succession. Snivy repeated its same trick and just shot out its vine, this time to its right and a little further than before, and just moved itself out of harm's way using only its vine. This time when the grass type landed, it just snickered at Charmander's attempts to hit it. Charmander, who was angered by Snivy's taunt, rushed forward with its claw raised preparing for a Scratch attack.

"Charmander, wait! What are you doing?" Amy called out to her Pokémon.

Both Pokémon and Trainer failed to notice the, hard to see, pinkish powder that Snivy had been giving off. Charmander ran right into it and he stopped in his tracks once the Pokémon had breathe it in.

"What's that powder?" Amy had finally noticed it.

"That's Sweet Scent!" Her brother warned, albeit a bit late. "It's a move that will make it tough for Charmander to fight back!"

Jason said nothing as he curiously watched the Snivy, observing the Pokémon's tactics.

Snivy snickered once again, and then it charged forward. It slammed its body into Charmander. The Fire type Pokémon was knocked back into its Trainer. Amy managed to catch the Pokémon in her arms, only being knocked down onto her butt. Jason and Jeremy ran over to their sister, kneeling down next to her. Snivy snickered tauntingly at the group. Shinx moved in front of the group, protectively.

"You alright?" Jason asked his younger sister, as she held her fainted Pokémon.

She nodded and looked down at her Pokémon with slight tears in her eyes.

Jason stood up and stepped in front of his sister, but stayed behind Shinx.

"Alright, it's our turn!" Jason said to his Pokémon.

Shinx nodded and it wore a determined expression. Snivy looked over at its new opponents, seemingly looking them over.

"Shinx, Thundershock!" Jason called out, not giving Snivy a chance to rest.

"Shii!" The tiny lion cub Pokémon cried out as a small burst of yellow electricity shot out towards its target.

Once again, Snivy shot out a vine and used it to pull itself out of harm's way.

"Keep attacking!" Jason ordered.

Shinx, following its given orders, kept launching small bursts of electricity at the Snivy. Snivy reacted quick and shot out another vine as it landed from its previous maneuver. Shinx was firing off attacks quick enough that Snivy had to use a second vine to dodge while using the first vine like a grapple hook.

"Keep up the pressure, Shinx!"

Shinx stopped momentarily to look back at her trainer and nod in acknowledgment. In the few seconds that the small action took place, Snivy got back to its feet and launched two leaves towards Shinx.

"Shinx, dodge right!" Jason called out.

Shinx turned back to face the Grass Pokémon and then jumped to its right, barely registering the two sharp leaves that flew by it. Even before its feet hit the ground, Shinx had already fired off another Thundershock attack. Snivy jumped out of the way this time, moving back a few steps.

"Shinx!" Jason called out. "Look closely around Snivy and watch how it reacts to each of your attacks!"

Shinx, paused for a second, but then nodded without looking towards its Trainer this time. Snivy seemed to have retained its cool composure and just smirked towards the electric Pokémon. Shinx glared at its opponent and launched another burst of electricity and continued to do so. Snivy reacted in its usual manner, using its vine to latch on to the ground a few feet away and move itself out of danger. Shinx did its best to follow and predict the direction Snivy would dodge in. Shinx started launching attacks slightly faster, and continued to increase in the speed of the attacks every few seconds. Snivy's dodges were getting a bit slower and sloppier, until, finally, it landed bad and tripped to the ground.

"Now!"

Shinx fired a bigger burst of electricity, striking Snivy in the body and knocking it back.

"Snivy!" The Pokémon cried out in pain.

It hit the ground, landing on its stomach. The Pokémon rose to its feet, slowly and launched another Razor Leaf attack. However, this time the attack was not at Shinx, but at Jason. Jason failed to notice the sharp leaves heading right towards him.

"Jason watch out!" Both of his siblings called out to him.

Jason took noticed of the attack heading towards him, but before he could even react, Shinx was already jumping in the way to intercept. Shinx's tail started to glow a solid gray color. Iron Tail. It spun around and smacked the two leaves back towards Snivy. Snivy, was taken by surprise and didn't have sufficient time to dodge. Its own attack was sent back to it and knocked it back once again.

As soon as Shinx touched the ground, she was speeding towards the Snivy with Quick Attack. Shinx slammed into the Pokémon, knocking it to the ground, just as it had recovered. Snivy struggled to its feet, desperation all over its face, and shot out a vine to try and create some distance between the two Pokémon.

"Shinx, Bite attack, don't let it get away."

Shinx move forward to bite down on Snivy, but the grass Pokémon was already moving towards the bushes at the end of the house, trying to use them as cover to escape. It, however, was moving slower than it was before.

"Shinx! Hit the vine, it's trying to get away!"

Shinx noticed and reacted quickly. One last Thundershock was fired out and hit the vine, causing Snivy to miss its intended landing spot and hit the ground, kicking up dirt.

"Close the distance and use Fire Fang!"

Snivy didn't even have a chance to get to its feet, Shinx was already upon it. Shinx's mouth was agape with its fangs glowing orange. Shinx bite down on its fallen target. Snivy cried out as a burst of fire was shot out. Once the fire dissipated, Snivy dropped to the ground fainted.

Jason didn't waste a moment, drawing the extra Pokeball he was carrying on him and tossing it towards the fainted Pokémon. The Ball hit the Pokémon; bounce backed, opened up and pulled the Pokémon into it in a blue flash. Snivy disappeared into the Pokeball and the ball dropped to the ground. Shook once, twice, and a third time before a ding was heard emulating from the Ball signifying that the wild Pokémon had been successfully captured.

A tired Shinx sighed in relief after it had heard the ding. Jason slowly approached the newly filled Pokeball. He knelt down, picked up and stared at the Pokeball in his hands for a few moments and then looked towards his siblings with a huge smile on his face. Both his brother and sister started cheering for him and Shinx.

"You two are amazing!" His sister cried out in joy.

"You had us going there for a moment." His brother admitted. "The Snivy was tough, but Shinx was just that much better!"

Shinx blushed slightly at the praise it was receiving.

"For that Snivy to be the first Pokémon you two ever battled against, that was impressive." A female voice called from the back door of the house.

Jason, his siblings, and Shinx all turned towards the origin of the voice. There was a girl with red hair standing near the back door to their house. Jeremy and Amy ran towards the girl and she greeted the both of them with hugs.

"Alice?" Jason looked confused. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

Alice moved towards Jason, with a smile on her face.

"So the news hasn't reached you yet, huh?" She said with a slight giggle. "Oh man, do I have some news for you."

She turned and started heading back inside the house. "Come on, let's go inside. That dinner you made is already cold."

Jason, completely confused, put away the Pokeball and knelt down to pick up Shinx in his arms. He then started to slowly make his way back inside his house.

**_So what'd you guys think? Special thanks to JRogers384 for writing that starting battle and giving me quite a battle to follow._**

**_Please don't forget to review, I always appreciate those._**

**_That being said. I don't have a set schedule for posting new chapters. I'm still unmotivated and just don't have as much time as I use to._**

**_I will try my best to get those chapters to you as soon as I can. I've already started of Chapter 2 at least._**

**_You guys have a good day and until next time!_**


	2. Chapter 2 - A Story to Tell

_**Hey guys! Its been a while, hasn't it?**_

_**I'm back with Chapter 2 and I'm sorry with how long it took this time, but its finally here.**_

_**This is where the story really starts to differ from the Original A New Beginning. Rather than talk about the differences, I'll just let you get to reading the story.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 2**

**A Story to Tell**

**The weight of the world that is the Chosen Heroes' responsibility, their shared destiny...**

…

"This place hasn't changed one bit." Alice commented as she looked over the decorations and pictures that lined the walls in the house. She stopped and looked over a family picture that had Jason and his parents, looking like the picture was taken in their backyard. "Oh well, looks like you've been keeping it clean at least." She moved on from the picture.

Jason had just set dinner for Jeremy and Amy at the dining room table and the two started eating. Shinx was between the two, ready to catch any food that the two may drop.

Jason moved to follow Alice as she looked around the house.

"You never answered my question." He spoke. "What are you doing here?

"What? I just came to visit family?" Alice spoke, only really half paying attention to the conversation.

"Yeah, I would be inclined to believe you if the only times you visited hadn't been with your parents," Jason retorted. "And you actually visited on you own."

"Alright, I'll give you that one."

Alice moved over to a connecting room and Jason followed right after her. In this room was as lone glass case with several trophies in said case. There were also several pictures of Jason's mother in that case as well.

"I see you kept your mom's trophy room looking like new." She spoke.

"Well, she worked hard for them and they're one of the few things we have left of her." He replied to her.

Alice glanced over the pictures that were beside each of the trophies. Each one showed Jason's mom at different ages and with different teams of Pokémon. From the start of her journey in Kanto to her journey throughout all the others regions and the culmination to a reign as Kanto Champion.

"She really was a dedicated Trainer." Alice spoke softly to herself.

She glanced over everything one last time, before turning back to face her cousin, who still showed confusion on his face.

"So, where are you going to put your trophies and mementos from your journey?" Alice asked.

Jason said nothing, but just slightly frowned while looking away from her. "You always bring that up."

Well if you had, at least, made it to Pewter City then we wouldn't be here." Alice poked fun at her cousin.

Jason stopped leaning up against the wall and stood up straight. He clenched his fists and glared at her. "I did make it to Pewter!" He then unclenched his fists and his hands came to a rest at his sides. "I just…I…"

Jason had indeed made it to Pewter City, but some naivety and inexperience caused him to be road blocked at the city Gym. He had been discouraged and returned home.

Alice had flinched back a bit, but then returned to her more relaxed pose. "Well, I had heard from a very reliable source that you had come back home in tears." She said with a smirk.

Jason and Alice may have been cousins, but they argued more like siblings, an effect of spending a lot of their childhoods together.

Jason's anger grew, he opened his mouth to retaliate, but was interrupted by vibrations emulating from his pocket. He paused mid-sentence and reached into his pocket, pulling out a black smartphone.

The device did look sleek and shiny at one point in its life, but a few impactful meetings with the ground had changed that.

He unlocked the device, swiped a few times and scanned over the screen. His eyes went wide as he took in the information on the screen.

"Is it your dad?" Alice asked curious.

"Yeah," Jason spoke not taking his eyes off of the screen." He said he just got back in Pallet Town and was almost home. He asked-" He paused momentarily, confusing plastered all over his face. "Wait. How did you know it was him?"

"I told you I had a surprise for you!" She smiled sweetly. The smile disappeared and was replaced with a joking smirk. "Besides you don't really have any friends that would be texting you now, do you?"

Jason wanted to reply to her smart remark, but his father was expecting Jason to help carry his luggage.

"Don't worry, I'll get you back." Jason said to his cousin before heading out of the trophy room.

By the time he had made it to the living room, there was a quick, but loud series of honks that had emulated from outside the house. Jason's siblings had finished eating and had been playing with Shinx. All three looked towards him as they were surprised by the honking.

"Dad's back, let's all go out and greet him and help with his stuff." He spoke to his siblings, motioning them towards the front door of the house.

The two of them cheered at the news that their father had returned from his work trip and with smiles on their faces they got up from the dinner table and went running towards the front door, racing past Jason and Alice. Shinx had followed them shortly after, stopping at her trainer's feet.

"You too." Jason motioned his partner Pokémon to the front door as well.

Shinx excitingly ran in the direction Amy and Jeremy went. Jason waited a moment for Shinx before following after his Pokémon. At the end of the hall the front door had been left wide open, no doubt due to his siblings excitement at seeing their father so long.

Stepping through the open door, into the slowly approaching night, and out into the front yard of the house, Jason spotted his father's truck parked near the house on the dirt driveway. His two siblings were standing near the driver's side door of the vehicle, their excitement evident even in the slightest of movement. The door open slowly moving wide enough for the occupant to step out. An older man with short graying black hair rose to his feet as he stepped out of the vehicle.

"Dad!" The two young kids shouted and ran up to hug their returning father.

He knelt down and embraced his young children. Jason watched from the doorway as his father stood up while hugging the two children. The two children giggled as they were lifted up.

"I missed both of you so very much!" Their father hugged them tightly.

Jason watched on with a smile, it was good to see his father again after so long. Their father set his kids down and released the hug. He spoke to them quietly; quiet enough to where Jason could hear their conversation.

Alice had finally walked out of the house

"Do you guys need any help?" She asked as she walked up to Jason.

Jason looked over at her and shook his head and then looked back as his family.

"I'm giving them some space right now." He replied to her.

She nodded and stood next to him. Jason's father had finally finished speaking to his children and reached into his truck, pulling out a Pokeball. He activated the orb and out came a humanoid, four armed, bluish gray skinned Pokémon. A Machamp.

"Maaaachamp…" The Pokémon yawned as it appeared from out of the ball.

Amy and Jeremy both ran up to the Fighting Type and then grabbed onto its lower set of arms. Machamp effortlessly lifted the two kids off the ground. Jason and Alice had already started to approach the others.

"Sorry, Machamp." Jason's father apologized to his Pokémon. "I know you'd rather be out and free, but there probably wasn't enough room in the truck for both of us and the luggage." He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

As the kids played with the Pokémon, Jason approached them and stood a few feet away from his father. He stood there, unsure and fidgety. You could tell that he wasn't sure what to say or do as he hadn't seen in father in a few months.

His father finally turned to face his oldest son. He smiled warmly at his soon and moved a bit closer.

"Jason, how are you doing?" His father asked. "Are you okay?"

Jason nodded, slightly embarrassed for some reason. "Yeah, I'm just glad to see you back home."

Jason looked over to the vehicle and noticed a lot of luggage in the back seat and in the bed of the truck.

"Let me help you with your luggage." Jason said.

He started to walk past his father, noticing his father's gaze following him.

"How are you doing, uncle?" Jason heard Alice's voice from behind him as he walked towards the vehicle. "Looks like I just beat you here."

"That you did." Mr. Malone replied. "Sorry that I couldn't give you a ride here. There wasn't much room, unless you were willing to risk riding in the back."

"Nah, it's okay. The train ride to Saffron wasn't bad."

Jason was grabbing suitcases and bags, as much as he could carry. He started to head inside, but was stopped by his father.

"Hold on a second, son. Let me or Machamp carry some of that, no need to carry that much at once." His father said to him.

"It's okay, dad, I got it." Jason just stepped around him and headed inside.

…...

"Sinnoh's Pokémon League Committee is debating disbanding as well." Jason's father sat down on the couch in the living room, finally done with packing.

With a deep sigh, he laid back against the couch, exhausted after all the traveling done. Jason and Alice had joined him as well; Jason sat in another, smaller couch that was adjacent to the one his father was sitting in. Alice said down in a recliner on the other side, but didn't lay back or bring up the leg rest.

"That whole convention was just an excuse for the Committee to just listen to themselves talk." The frustration was clear in his voice.

"Why are they disbanding the League?" Jason spoke up. "Last I heard was that the Sinnoh League was doing well, despite a good amount of the serious Pokémon Trainers all going to Galar."

"The numbers are dropping again." Jason's father sighed. "Viewership and live attendance are even lower. Guess regular battling isn't flashing enough. Everyone wants to see Mega Evolution and Dynamax. Since the League is starting to lose money, the committee thinks it best to just shut down their league, similar to what Kanto did 5 years ago."

"Kanto and Johto never did really embrace Mega Evolution." Alice added.

Shinx had walked in and jumped onto the couch with its trainer.

"There was for a small time. The Indigo League did allow Mega Evolutions, they actually didn't put a limit on how many Pokémon could Mega Evolve in a single match, so all the official battles became stale with the same Pokémon and same tactics being used. What little interest was garnered was lost once again over time."

"Why with the small history lesson, dad?" Jason spoke. "Every teenager alive knows that traditional battling on a whole has been on a decline and if you don't live in certain regions it's difficult or downright impossible to be a serious Pokémon Trainer."

"I just don't think this relaunch of the Indigo League is going to fare any better." Jason's father admitted. "I don't fully believe that the people running it understand what has changed in the landscape of Pokémon Battling."

That's right. The Indigo League relaunch was starting tomorrow. The hype for it was immense, as the people in charge of the marketing campaign had claimed that people would see battling like they hadn't seen before, even compared to Dynamax. Jason had secretly hoped that his dad would return a few weeks before the start of the League, so that maybe he and Shinx could have competed. Jason's expression soured the more he thought of it and sighed.

"Jason," His father had noticed his visible disappointment. "I know this looked like it was finally your chance to go out and become a trainer…"

"It's alright, dad." Jason stopped his father mid-sentence. "Maybe…I'm not meant to become a trainer." Jason was petting Shinx, who had a smile of contentment on her face. "Or maybe my chance hasn't come yet." Jason said, facing his father.

"You dumbass." The room had fallen almost, deathly silent after Alice had spoken those words. "Are you really this dense?"

Jason looked over at her with a look of confusion and annoyance. "Why are you calling me a dumbass? What are you talking about?"

His father just watched on in slight amusement.

"Think about it," She continued. "There's a championship tournament going on in Kanto right now, the first in five plus years. Your dad is back, permanently, after traveling around for two years. You have an experienced Pokémon Trainer, me," She said that last part with flashing him a cute smile. "Who is willing to travel around with you and help you out."

"Wait, what do you mean travel with me?" Jason replied with genuine confusion.

"I mean, you better pack everything you need we leave first thing tomorrow morning." She said, with a serious expression. "Bring only what you need."

Jason sat slight confused, trying to process all the information that had been told to him in the slight time. Shinx stood up on the couch, wagging her star tipped tail back and forth almost expectantly. Alice was now looking slight disappointed in her cousin, while Jason's father just had a patient expression while he waited for his son to understand the importance of what he had just been told.

"Wait," Jason finally spoke. "With you here, that means I can finally leave on my Pokémon journey!" Jason's face lit up in excitement.

Shinx smiled, started mewing excitingly and jumped up onto Jason's shoulder. Jason's father nodded in relief to his son's excited reaction.

Alice giggled slightly at her excited cousin.

"I'm going to be going with you." She said. "Mom already packed some essentials, and then some, that we might need, but you should really pack everything you'll need as well."

"Right!" Jason nodded and took off running, through the house and to his room, Shinx managing to stay firmly on his shoulder.

Upon reaching his room, he shut the door and Shinx jumped off his shoulder and landed softly on the carpet. Jason went over to his closet and pulled out a backpack, set it aside and started rummaging through the closet gathering what clothes and other things he would be taking on this journey. Shinx was helping by attempting to take some of the items over to the backpack and stuffing them into it. Soon a pile of clothes and other items were laid out on his bed and Jason was examining everything. Shinx was standing on the bed, looking at her trainer's thoughtful expression.

"Okay, let's see." He opened up every pocket in the black backpack that he had. "I'll need this…and these…can't forget these or this…Taking some of these won't hurt." He was had packed everything he thought he would need, even if it was just once.

Shinx stared on in amazement at the pack that looked like it would burst at any moment.

"There we go, Shinx." Jason smiled. "I think we have everything that we could possibly need."

"Shi! Shinx!" The Pokémon nodded in acknowledgement.

Jason attempted to lift up the backpack, but was able to due to how much stuff had been packed.

"O-Okay." He huffed after he gave up. "Maybe I should unpack some things."

He opened the pockets and started going through, taking out anything he wouldn't need more than once. It had seemed like he had been at packing and unpacking for quite a while. There was a knock at the door.

"Yeah? Come in." Jason called out.

The door quietly and slowly slid open. Jason still had his back to the door as he was still focused on deciding what he should take.

"Hey, I let Alice have the spare bedroom for tonight." It was his dad. "I thought I still heard you rummaging around so I came to check up on you."

"Yeah." Jason unpacked some binoculars and tossed them aside. "I'm just trying to decide what to bring, but I don't want to take too much stuff." He was now examining a compass in his hands.

"I see." His father said as he stood near his son. "Shinx seems to have the right idea though." He chuckled lightly.

Shinx was attempting to pull out a sleeping bag from the back of the closet. Jason went over and knelt down next to Shinx, petting her on the head before taking the sleeping back in hand.

"You're right Shinx, I'll need this." He spoke to her.

He took the bag back to his bed and rolled it up, setting it aside for later. Shinx moved back to the closet to rummage around some more.

"Are you nervous?"

"A little." Jason was organizing a small tool set. "I haven't really gone beyond Viridian City in while."

"You'll have Alice with you though." His father was now beside the bed, looking over the items that Jason had sprawled out. "So you won't be alone, plus you'll have Shinx."

Shinx had poked her head out from the closet at the mention of her name, before returning a few moments later.

"Yeah, I know." Jason stopped what he was doing and just stared off into space for a few moments before sighing deeply. "I'm just….I'm just thinking about what happened last time…when I first left on a journey eight years ago."

It was his dad's turn to sigh.

"Listen." Jason felt a hand on his shoulder. "You were ten years old…and there was a lot of pressure that the world may have put on you due to name association. None of that was your fault. Your mom and I just wanted you to go out and have a fun journey with Pokémon, like she got to when she was younger."

Jason didn't say a word; he just listened to what he was being told. He felt that hand retract from his shoulder.

"When you came back home-"

"Stop." Jason cut him off. "I don't want to think about that now."

His father was a bit shocked.

"Okay. Just know that I love you and your mother loved…loves you."

Jason turned to look at him; his expression was that of a slight frown.

"And that we are very proud of you." His father continued. "Your mother wanted to best for you. No matter what old news articles or interviews you find online or what you may read online or what people may say about your mother, she always had you in mind. She always wanted to make sure that you could have a comfortable life. People get jealous of those more successful than them and some will try to make them look bad. Your mother was a good woman, but she was also a human…and humans make mistakes."

Jason stood there in shock, almost tearing up and unable to find words to say. He had known that his mother's later years as Kanto Champion had been rough on her and stressful and there was obviously stuff that he hadn't been told, but he had found his father's words almost ominous, as if had he dug a little deeper he may have found out something he was better off not knowing.

That's when he noticed that his father had a small brown wooden box in his arms. This box looked beautifully furbished with a gold latch in the front.

"Wh-What's that?" Jason asked puzzled.

"Ah!" His dad's expression brightened. "A gift, from an old family friend in Sinnoh. When I told her that you would be going on your journey, she wanted to give you something that you might be able to use, if not she hoped it would be a good luck charm at least."

He held out that small box to Jason. Jason waited a moment before he grabbed the box from his father and gently set it on his bed. Shinx walked out of the closet, a ribbon in her mouth. She softly padded over to Jason's father and nudged him in his leg. He looked down and noticed the small Pokémon motioning the ribbon in her mouth. He smiled a knelt down.

"Here, let me help you with that." He told the Pokémon.

He grabbed the ribbon from her and started tying it gently around her neck.

"Let me know if it's too tight."

"Shi." The Pokémon mewed at him.

Jason slowly ran his hand over the box for a moment, before he undid the latch and opened the box. The inside context of the box caused him to gasp in surprise. Inside was a beautiful and expensive looking watch. It was shiny silver on the sides with a smooth looking gold going down the middle. The face, itself, was gold as well as the arms. However, at the center where the arms met, was a rainbow colored stone with a symbol etched into it. There was also two other smaller stones in the box as well. One was an orange stone with a blue and red symbol etched into it. The other was a purple stone with an orange and yellow symbol etched into it.

"Dad! Are these Mega Stones and a Mega…Watch!?" Jason asked in shock.

"Read the letter." Was the reply.

There was a white, folded piece of paper. He took the note in his hands and unfolded it. The handwriting was beautiful and elegant almost to the point of it being hard to read.

"Hey Jason," He read almost at a whisper to himself. "I know it's been a long time and I was glad to hear that you'll be going on your journey again! I know your last one didn't go so well, but I'm really proud of you for giving it another go. There's nothing quite like seeing the world with your Pokémon friends at your side. Who knows, you might make quite a few friends on this journey. To help you get started I've asked your dad to give you the items that came with this note. It's a Mega Watch that'll allow certain Pokémon to Mega Evolve (As I'm sure you're aware of.). I've also sent along a Garchompite and a Lucarioite, just in case you catch those Pokémon and decide to use them on your team. But this is your Journey, so don't let an old woman like me tell you which Pokémon to use! Good luck and here's a piece of advice your mother once told me. Don't be afraid to let your Pokémon make its own decisions in battle, have as much trust in your Pokémon as they have in you. PS, a little secret about that Keystone imbedded in the watch, it was actually one that your mother had dug up herself and we kept it unrefined as a memento of that little adventure. I really truly believe she would want you to use it."

There was no name signed to it just a little heart shaped drawn in pink and red ink. Regardless Jason smiled at the letter.

"Hey Jason, take a look at Shinx." His father called out.

Jason turned around a looked as his father kneeling down next to Shinx. Shinx was smiling towards her trainer with her tail swishing back and forth excitingly. Shinx had a new ribbon tied in a bow around her neck. The ribbon was a dark blue ribbon with a black backside and yellow polka dots on it. Jason smiled and went over to his Pokémon.

"You look so adorable with the Joy Ribbon on." He knelt down to pet his Pokémon, but instead Shinx cried out in joy and jumped into his arms, causing him to laugh in surprise.

Jason's father had gotten up and moved over to the bed to view the contents of the box.

"Man, she really went all out." His father laughed. "Look at this watch. This is a nice watch."

Jason stood up with Shinx in his arms and headed back to the bed. Shinx jumped out of his arms and onto the bed, standing next to the box.

"Yeah, I really can't believe it." Jason said, still in shock as he reached down and took the watch in hand.

"Try it on." His father said. "Make sure it fits and see how it looks."

Jason obliged, messing with the watch for a few moments before successfully putting it on. He made sure it was secured before showing it off. He looked it over, moving his arm to different positions so he could see it at different angles. He liked the way it looked and would definitely mess with it tomorrow morning.

"Also…" His dad sighed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small envelope. "Your grandparents…wanted you to have this to help out on the journey." He put an emphasis of distain when he said grandparents.

"Oh?" Jason took the envelope in hand. "You told Grandpa and Grandma Marina that I was leaving on my journey?"

"Yeah." The annoyance in his father's voice was very noticeable. "They have occasionally asked how you, Amy, and Jeremy were doing. I've never gotten along too well with them, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't update them on their grandkids. However, they shouldn't act like I can't get you prepared for your journey."

"Fair enough." Jason nodded as he opened the thin envelope. "I wonder what's inside."

Inside was a simple card like device, almost like a credit card. Jason pulled it out and flipped in around.

"Oh, looks like they sent you a credit card." Jason's dad spoke. "Does it say how much is on it?"

Jason shook his head and looked in the envelope again and found another small note. This one wasn't hand written, but looked professionally made.

"To our beloved Grandson, in celebration of your second attempt of going on a Pokémon Journey, we wanted to assist you in preparing for the long journey. So packaged with the note is a debit card link to a bank account that we have set up for you. In said account is the amount of 1million PokeDollars. Please use this to assist in the preparation of the journey and in any emergencies that may come up." Jason had read the note out loud. "All our love, Grandpa and Grandma Marina."

"Can't believe they sent you that much." His father said in surprise. "Geez, what? Did they think you were starting your own company or something?"

"Well, I mean." Jason was flabbergasted. "I guess money won't be an issue on this journey."

"Yeah." His father was still shocked. "Don't lose the card."

Jason nodded and just set the card on the desk near his bed.

"You should probably finish up soon." His dad turned to leave the room, stopping only to give Shinx a light pet. "It's not too late, but you do need to be up early to go register at Professor Oak's lab."

Jason turned to face him. "Yeah, Alice said something about leaving first thing in the morning?"

"Yeah, Professor Oak said to be there at his lab by 8am, so he can brief you a bit and then you can watch the opening ceremony for the Kanto Regional Championship Tournament. I don't think you would want to miss that. Jeremy, Amy, and I will meet you outside of the lab before you leave Pallet Town."

"Alright, dad, I'll quickly pack the rest of what I need and then head to bed. Goodnight."

"Goodnight son."

With that, his dad left his room and Jason was left alone to finish packing.

….

It was the middle of the night. Complete silence had fallen over the house, with the exception of the occasionally Wild Pokémon cry. Jason and Shinx both laid in his bed, Shinx was passed out asleep, her chest rising and falling with each breath. Jason, however, was still awake. Stuck in between feeling sleepy and falling asleep, he would momentarily fall asleep only to wake himself up and just lay there and stare at the ceiling. The excitement of the coming journey was keeping him up and fight with his tired body to stay awake. He knew he had to sleep to avoid being too tired in the moving, but that was easier said than done.

He had his eyes closed and was quietly counting Mareep in an attempt to cause his tired brain to fall fully asleep, when he felt slight tug as his sleeve. He opened his eyes and saw a tired looking Shinx looking at him worryingly.

"Shinx? Shin?" The Pokémon asked him.

"Hey, Shinx." Jason reached up and petted her. She started nuzzling into his hand before it even made contact. "Don't worry about me. Just excited for tomorrow, aren't you excited too?"

"Inx." The sleepy Pokémon nodded.

She moved closer and started lying against his side. Jason moved his arm and wrapped it around her.

"I know it won't do me any good, but…just thinking about everything that might happen, all the new people and Pokémon we're going to me. All the adventures that have yet to happen…" He trailed off. "I'll do better this time." He told himself. "I'll redeem myself."

He yawned deeply, but still fought back against the sleepiness.

"I'll redeem her too…make sure that everyone realized what a great champion she was…The name Malone…will no…will no…lon..ger…be…" Sleep had finally taken his tired conscious.

…

"Hey! Wake up! Dumbass, wake up!" A voice called out to Jason's tired consciousness.

Jason mumbled something incoherently.

"Both of you need to wake up! We're going to be late!"

"Ju..five…min…"Jason mumbled.

He turned to roll over, but ended up rolling right off the bed and landing hard on the floor with a loud CRASH! Shinx had been jolted wide awake and was now frantically glancing around.

"Serves you right." Alice said. She was standing right above Jason, who had crash landed right at her feet. "C'mon Jason, we're going to be really late if you don't hurry."

Shinx had jumped off the bed and was now right next to her Trainer.

"Wha? What time is it?" Jason yawned as he got up and sat down at the edge of the bed.

"It's 7:35! We have less than a half hour to be at the Professor's lab!"

Jason jumped to his feet and Shinx tensed up.

"That's less than a half hour to get to the lab!" Jason shouted in realized

He took off around the room, gathering the clothes he would be wearing for the day.

"I'll be waiting for you in the living room. Hurry!" She told him as she left his room.

Jason hastily grabbed whatever looked good and ran into his bathroom to shower. Not even waiting for the water to become a warm temperature, he jumped in and took the faster shower of his life.

Shinx, meanwhile, was washing herself and adjusted her bow. She was ready to go in only a couple of minutes.

Jason jumped out of the shower and was quickly, and quite clumsily, throwing on his clothes. If you had ever seen a male player character from those Pokémon video games that were made, that was how was dressed. Shirt, pants, cap, jacket, he was almost all set.

"What else? What else?" He said out loud to himself.

"Shinx! Shinx!" Shinx called out to get his attention.

Jason looked over at her. Shinx then motioned towards his backpack, she then ran over to his desk and jumped up on it, motioning towards the debit card and the wooden box. Lastly, she jumped off the desk, ran into the closet and starting attempting to pull out the wrapped up sleeping bag.

"Right. Right!" Jason moved over to help Shinx.

He took the sleeping bag from her and went over to his backpack, he then tied the sleep bag to the backpack to make it easier to carry. He ran over the desk, pulled out his wallet and put the debit card inside. Lastly, he opened the box and gently took ahold of the Mega Watch, carefully handling it and putting it on with the face on the inside of his arm. He took the two Mega Stone and gently set them into the Items pocket of his backpack.

"Is that everything, Shinx?" Jason asked, as the two of them looked around frantically.

"Shinx." Shinx nodded.

"Let's go then." Jason waited a moment, giving Shinx the opportunity to jump onto his shoulder.

"Jason, hurry up!" Alice called out as Jason opened the door.

"Let's go! Come on!" He yelled back at her as he shut his bedroom door and started running toward the living room, with Shinx holding on for dear life.

Alice was standing there, impatiently waiting for him.

"Finally." She sighed in relief at the sight of him. "Come on we got five minutes to get there."

She moved towards the front door, opened it, and stepped out into the morning air. Jason grabbed his shoes from the front and quickly put them on without untying the laces.

"Think we'll make it?" He asked as he stepped outside, shutting the door.

"We'll have to run…" Alice groaned. "Well….come on!" She took off in a run.

"Wait up!" Jason called after her and started his own run.

Shinx frowned at the realization that she was in for an uncomfortable ride.

…

They were already late. It seemed that no matter how fast they would have run, five minutes was not enough time to make it to the lab.

"W-We made it…." Alice said out of breath, she stopped right outside the gates to the lab.

Jason slowed to a walk as he caught up, stopping to catch his breath. Shinx was dizzy from the ride and almost fell off of Jason's shoulder just to be caught in his arms at the last second.

"Okay…we made it. Give me a s-second…" Jason gasped for air.

"We don't have that long." Alice stood up straight. "Come on."

She started heading through the open gates, but stopped as she passed through. Jason slowly approached her.

"What's up? Why'd you stop?" He asked as he walked through the gates.

That's when he noticed a limousine that was parked just past the gate. It was a beautiful black vehicle. There were also two men in black suits standing near the vehicle. Security guards. When they spotted Jason and Alice, they eyed them suspicious, before going back to their business.

"A limo?" Alice asked as the two of them started walking toward the lab entrance. "What's a limo doing here?"

"I don't know." Jason said. "Although I have an idea…"

The two of them started ascending the steps, admiring the gardens that Professor Oak had growing in the front of the lab. There were several different Grass Type Pokémon roaming around in them and Jason would of like to see more of the Pokémon, but they were late as is.

"Hello?" Jason called out as he opened the door. "Professor?"

He and Alice walked into a white room that looked to be like an office building with desk, computers and bookshelves on either wall.

"Professor?" Alice called out.

"Ah, yes, yes, I'm back here, past the lab!" A voice replied to them.

The two followed where the voice had come from, heading into another room that was filled with machine that, in a million years, Jason could never guess what their purpose was. Heading a little further in, they came into another small, office like room. There was a big desk near the back of the room with two people and a Pokémon standing next to it. One person was the Professor, the Pokémon was a Riolu, and the person the Riolu was standing next to was this young woman with platinum blonde hair. She seemed to be wearing a black pants and an expensive looking tan jacket. Jason's stomach tightened when he saw the girl.

"Professor?" Jason called out to the two.

All three figures turned around, Professor Oak smiled at the sight of the two of them.

"Ah, Jason, Alice, you're here. You two had me worried for a second." The Professor spoke.

Jason frowned at realization of who the girl was.

"Well, you two look as plain as ever." The girl spoke.

"Ah, it looks like you two have already met Miss Connors."

"Kelly!?" Alice smiled and started to approach her. "I haven't seen you in forever how are you-"

Kelly held her hand out in a stop motion.

"We're not friends." She said to Alice and Jason. "You two are the last people I want to see."

Jason frown turned into a glare, even Shinx was now glaring a Kelly. Alice had a look of total shock written on her face.

"Jason Malone." The anger in Kelly's voice was apparent. "You shouldn't even be allowed in this tournament. You and your whole family are trash."

Shinx jumped out of Jason's arms and started growling at Kelly with small sparks flying off of her. Riolu quickly jumped in front of Kelly, shielding her from the Pokémon. Trainers and Pokémon glared at each other and it looked like the situation had escalated into a volatile standoff.

**_Please don't forget to review and tell me what you think._**

**_You all have a good day and please stay safe!_**

**_P.S I've sort of taken on a co-writer for this story, so you may start to see sections written by them in the future._**


	3. Chapter 3 - Goodbyes

_**New Chapter out of no where!**_

_**It's been a while, guys. How are all of you doing?**_

_**This chapter ended up taking a while due to lost of motivation. I got random bits of motivation and took advantage of those to bring you this longer than intended chapter.**_

_**Anyway, enjoy!**_

**Chapter Three**

**Goodbyes**

The tense standoff continued with both trainers glaring at each other and their respective Pokémon standing protectively in front of them. Alice was standing behind Jason in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Shinx had small sparks bouncing off her body, ready to fire off an attack at a moment's notice. Riolu stood in front of Kelly with its arms spread out in defense of its trainer.

"Enough you two!" Professor Oak shouted, catching the three trainers off guard. "I will not have you two engaging in a Pokémon battle in my laboratory."

Jason sighed and Shinx stood down. Both of them looked apologetically towards the Professor. Riolu relaxed and lowered its arms. Kelly on the other hand, stared mockingly at Jason and Shinx.

"A Pokémon battle with these two would have been a waste of time anyway. The Experience that Riolu would have received wouldn't have been worth even the little effort it would have taken to beat Shinx." She said while casually twirling her bangs in her hand.

Jason and Shinx glared at her.

"I dare you to try!" Jason replied to her. "Your Riolu wouldn't stand a chance!"

"Shi! Shinx!" Shinx cried out in affirmation.

"Whatever." Kelly mocked him. "Says the guy who ran home crying to mommy when he couldn't even beat Bro-"

"Stop this at once!" Professor Oak shouted before Kelly could finish her sentence. "Miss Connors your actions and attitude are unbefitting of your family's legacy. I'm sure your father would be very disappointed with you."

"Hmph." She looked away from Jason and Shinx. "Riolu!"

Her Pokémon moved back over to her, standing just beside her. Shinx moved back to her trainer, but still glared at Kelly. Jason took once last glance in Kelly's direction before turning to face the Professor and giving him a quick, apologetic bow.

"Sorry, Professor," Jason apologized. "Please forgive my rudeness."

"No need for the formalities, Jason." Professor Oak replied. "Just understand that the fighting reflects badly on the two of you."

"Yes Professor, of course." Jason nodded.

Kelly had no words of apology, just had a look of annoyance all over her face. "All due respect, Professor, I did not come here for a lecture. I came to get registered and to be on my way."

"Of course, Miss Connors," The Professor said. "I suppose we should get you three registered; there isn't much time before the ceremony starts."

Professor Oak went around and took a seat at his desk that was in the room. He started typing away at his keyboard for a few moments, occasionally muttering quietly to himself, causing a lot of confusion among the three teenagers. Alice had moved up next to Jason and Shinx, Kelly and Riolu were about six feet away from the two.

"Okay, now that that's done." The Professor stood up from his desk and went to a small cabinet.

"What are you looking for, Professor?" Alice asked.

He took out a small box from the cabinet and went back to the desk. Setting the box on his desk, he looked over to the three Pokémon Trainers. All three of them moved up to the front of the desk.

"Inside this box is a very important device that every one of you will be wanting for this important journey you're about to take." The Professor spoke as he reached into the box.

He pulled out a small, thin, and black rectangular device with a single screen on it. He set it down in front of Jason before he reached into the box again and pulled out two more placing one in front of Alice and the other in front of Kelly. The devices were about the average size of a smartphone.

"These are your Personal Digital Assistants." The Professor spoke to them. "Please, if you would pick up the devices and place your thumb on the center of the screens."

Kelly was the first to pick up the device in her hand and place her thumb on the center. The screen lit up. Jason followed suit and lifted up the device and placed his thumb in the center of the screen. Just as the device in Kelly's hand lit up, so did his with the word 'SCANING' appearing on it. These thin, white lines move up and down and side to side across the screen. The word 'REGISTERING' soon appeared.

"Registration complete," A female voice emulated from the device in Jason's hand and spoke in a monotone voice. "Welcome, Jason Malone."

"Registration complete, Welcome, Kelly Connors." Kelly's device said in the same monotone voice.

"Registration complete," Alice's device said. "Welcome, Alice Vale."

Jason continued to look over the icons, they read as followed POKEDEX, POKEMON, ITEMS, VOICE CALL, VIDEO CALL, TRAINER IDENTIFICATION, GPS, SETTINGS.

"These PDAs will be the lifeblood of your Pokémon journey." The Professor spoke up once again. "These are very important, so do not lose them. These devices are linked to the servers located at the Connors Conglomerate Headquarters; it'll keep track of your progress throughout the tournament."

"So with this, Connors Con can spy on us whenever they want?" Alice questioned, while suspiciously eyeing the PDA in her hands.

"Nope," Kelly replied, not taking her eyes off the screen of her device. "The tracking is used only in emergency situations, like if a trainer goes missing or if the device is stolen."

Alice didn't reply, but she still wore a skeptical look on her face. Jason was too focused looking through the apps on his device to add to their conversation. He clicked on the POKEMON icon and the screen changed to a red background and on there were two 3D models of Shinx and Snivy. Still curious, He clicked on the 3D model of Shinx. The Shinx model moved over to one side of the screen and words appeared next to it with basic information about the Shinx species, National Dex number, standard height, standard weight, etc.

There were two more icons below the words, one was a book icon, and the other was a globe icon. Jason clicked on the globe icon and was taken to a more indebt entry about the Pokémon Shinx, talking about bit about Shinx biology, habitat, egg group, moves it can learn, among other things. He navigated back to the previous page and clicked on the book icon. This took him to more personal information about his Shinx, her stats, moves known up to this point, her Ability, and when she was first caught. Seeing 'Caught in Sunyshore City at lvl 1' brought a rush of memories back to him and caused a small smile to appear on his face.

He closed out of the Pokémon App.

"Hey Jason, lets exchange contacts." Alice had turned to him.

"How do I do that?" He replied.

"Here." She went up next to him. "Just click on settings and go to exchange."

He followed her steps. Before he clicked on Exchange he noticed some other settings that caught his eye. He made a mental note and then clicked on Exchange. A small animation appeared of two the PDAs moving closer together and then moving apart.

"Here, hold yours next to mine." Alice moved the PDA in her hands closer to Jason's and he did the same.

The animation changed to show the two device being still and arrows moving towards from one device to the other. CONTACT ADDED appeared on the screen.

"New contact added. Alice Vale." That same monotone female voice from earlier said.

"Cool." Alice smiled. "Now if we ever get separated we should be able to find each other."

Jason smile and nodded. He looked over and Kelly, debating asking her to exchange contacts. Kelly was too busy tapping away at the screen of her PDA.

"Alright, all three of you have successfully registered." Professor Oak spoke. "I'll give you a few more minutes to look over your PDAs before the ceremony starts."

Professor Oak pushed a button on the control panel on his desk, a thin flat screen TV slowly descended from the ceiling along the left wall.

Jason had gone back to messing with the PDA, checking out the other Apps and looking at the Settings. He wasn't sure how he did it, but he managed to change the color of the device itself. There was only the basic of colors, but when he tapped on a color, the device would change to match the color.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Alice exclaimed. "How'd you make yours a dark blue?"

Jason repeated the steps that he had taken, this time while his cousin watched him. She looked over the colors tapping different ones, and staring in amazement as the device's color changed. After a minute or two she had settled on purple.

The Professor pushed another button on the control panel by his computer and the TV screen from earlier turned on.

On the screen was a white background with a logo on the screen. The logo was two capital Cs back to back. Both were in a dark green outline, one had a white interior and the other C had a back interior. That was the Connors Conglomerate logo. Underneath the logo were some words and a countdown.

LIVESTREAM BEGINNING IN 00:01:30 and it was counting down.

Jason was watching Alice tap away on her PDA, the devices color changing to random colors, as Alice was one to change her mind quickly when it came to cosmetic customization

Jason, remember Shinx at this very moment, looked around for her spotting her next to Kelly's Riolu. The two Pokémon seemed to be conversing with each other, away from their trainers. Both Pokémon had seemingly apologetic looks on their faces.

"_At least the two of them get along_." Jason thought. "_I hope that doesn't change if they have to battle_."

"Riolu!" Kelly called out angrily. "Get back here." She ordered with a snap of her fingers.

Riolu nodded and ran back other to its Trainer. Kelly knelt down for the Pokémon to jump on her shoulder. She then stood up and started whispering to her Pokémon. Jason couldn't quite make it out, but with the look she was giving him he guessed it wasn't good. Shinx had run over to her Trainer, a slight sad expression was on her face.

"Don't worry about her." Jason knelt down next to his Pokémon and started petting her.

Shinx nuzzled into his hand.

"Okay, everyone!" Professor Oak spoke like he was about to start one of his lectures. "The opening ceremony is about to start, so if everyone could pay attention to the screen."

He walked over to a switch on the wall which dimmed the lights and the countdown timer on the screen reached zero. Jason, Shinx, and Alice all moved closer to the screen to get a better look.

5…4…3…2…1

The logo parted and transitioned to a white room with a lone man in a black suit standing in the middle of it. The man had short dirty blonde hair that was starting to gray on the edge.

"Hi." The man smiled. "My name is Victor Connors and welcome to the world of Pokémon." He motioned to the floor of the room and suddenly the tiles lit up and changed to an aerial view of the Kanto Region.

The region was incredible still very lush and green as forest areas covered most of the region, surrounding the cities, but leaving well defined paths between each. Even the rocky corral that created makeshifts paths to and from Pallet Town to Cinnabar Island and Cinnabar to Fuchsia were somewhat visible.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Victor said, staring back the camera for a moment, before turning his gaze back to the floor map of Kanto. "This is actual aerial footage of our beloved Kanto Region currently. It didn't always look this well maintained, especially recently."

The floor projection started changing view, showing a slideshow of beautiful scenic shots and city shots.

"The Indigo League shut down five years ago, due to dwindling participants and viewership." Victor looked back at the camera as the slideshow continued. "That was mainly due to the unique battling experiences that you could only get in other regions causing people to seek fresh excitement elsewhere."

Another projection was admitted from the floor, manifesting as a hologram screen near Victor Connors. Pokémon battling footage became to play on the holoscreen, showing off Pokémon Dynamaxing, showing Pokémon Mega Evolving, and Trainers using Z Moves.

"It was all these unique and different ways of battling Pokémon that caused interest in traditional Pokémon battling to be lost." Victor continued while the footage continued to play. "…well that and a lack of evolving with the times so to speak."

The Holoscreen disappeared and the floor projection returned to its normal state, leaving Mr. Connors in a blank white room.

"Kanto is a region without a Pokémon League…" He continued as he started pacing around the room. "…and while Pokémon battling may not be the most important thing in the world, it is a valuable part of the Human – Pokémon Ecosystem. I feel like I'm not alone in saying that without it Kanto has been left with a very bland, some might even say no, appeal to the younger generations."

"Well, that's about to change." He stopped and faced the camera. "The announcement was made months ago, but today it'll be made official. My company, the Connors Conglomerate, is hosting an open tournament at the former Indigo Stadium. The first requirement to enter is that you have eight badges. Kanto, Johto, Galar…doesn't matter, present eight badges from any region and you will be entered into the main tournament. And the second requirement is one that dozens of people have already done, but not everyone who is going to participate needs to do."

Victor reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a small rectangle device.

"If you are going to challenge any of the Kanto Gym Leaders, then you need to register on our website, as you will need one of these." He held out the rectangle device which turned out to be one of the smartphones that Jason and the others had received. "This is a Personal Digital Assistant or PDA for short."

He then went on a small overview of the device and its functions. Jason only occasionally paying attention as there wasn't any new information given out.

"…Now." Victor put away the device. "While all of the Kanto Gyms will be reopening, there will be some new Leaders to throw into the mix. While we did want all the former Leaders to return, that just wasn't quite possible. However, change can be fresh and lead to new match ups not seen before….Now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, I think it best that Trainers get started immediately and head to the Pewter City Gym where a familiar face will be there to greet you and offer up your first real challenge."

The floor projection turned back to the overhead view of the Kanto Region and Victor glanced down, admiring the Region's beauty.

"The road ahead will be long, especially if you're just starting out as a Trainer…and for some of you it may be too much…Just give it your very best and you'll no doubt be leaving your mark in Kanto's history. Good luck to everyone and I'll be seeing each of you at the Indigo League."

With that, he bowed as the screen faded to black.

"And that's it." Professor Oak spoke as he turned on the TV and it slid back into the ceiling. "Eight badges are all you need and they don't even need to be Kanto badges. Sounds like you might even be able to mix and match the badges you use to enter."

"So that means, I'll just need to get three more badges then!" Alice smiled. "That's a nice little head start on my cousin here."

"I forgot that you had some of the Johto Badges." Jason replied. "Wait, why did you never get the other three?"

"Semantics, Jason!" Alice waved away Jason's question. "We should be more focused on getting a move on; we both have a Gym Battle waiting for us in Pewter City."

Jason nodded; he looked down at his Pokémon and motioned for Shinx to jump on his shoulder.

"Jason!" Kelly called out.

All three of them looked over at her; she now had a slight smirk on her face.

"I was in a hurry to leave before," She continued. "…but I'll battle your Shinx….unless you aren't so eager to battle anymore."

Jason glared at her for a bit, but before he could even say anything, Shinx moved in front of him and between the two. The small electric Pokémon was glaring towards Kelly, growling at her. Just as before, Riolu jumped in front of Kelly, protecting its Trainer.

"Well…looks like your cat is eager anyway." Kelly was unfazed by Shinx.

"What kind of Trainer would I be to not let her battle of her own will." Jason said, his own smirk crossing his face. "What kind of Trainer would I be if I refused a challenge, I'll battle your Riolu."

A light laugh escaped her lips.

"As I said before," Professor Oak reiterated. "I will not have you two battling in this lab. If you must battle, there is an open field just outside in the back of the lab."

"Alright, sounds good, Professor, thank you for everything. Come on Shinx." Jason said to his Pokémon as he turned to head out of the room, he knew his way around the lab.

Shinx nodded, moving alongside Jason.

"Riolu." Kelly ordered as she followed them, Riolu moving in line behind her.

Alice was getting a slightly uneasy feeling from all of this. Kelly was now all too eager to battle after she didn't show the slightest interest in battling Jason. Alice shook her head and was about to follow the group, when her PDA vibrated and a series of beeps emulated from the device.

"What's this?" She pulled the device from her pocket and the screen lit up with a notification.

'A Pokémon battle is about to take place near your area.' The notification read. The notification was replaced with a detailed map of the area around Alice, who was represented on the map by a flashing blue dot. There were two other red flashing dots moving away from her.

"Wait…What? Is that…?" Alice quickly went after the group, keeping an eye on her PDA.

She followed them to the outside behind the lab and to a small, flat, grass field.

"We can use this as our battlefield." Jason said turning around to face Kelly. "This way none of Professor Oak's equipment gets damaged."

"Doesn't matter the location," Kelly spoke up as she moved a few paces away from the group, before turning back to face them. "You aren't going to win."

Jason walked over to a position about ten yards directly in front of Kelly. "A lot has changed in four years. Shinx will defeat Riolu this time!"

Shinx ran in front of Jason, facing towards Kelly and Riolu who was also standing in front of its Trainer.

Alice looked down at the PDA one more time, the screen still showed the map, but the red dots had picture icons above then, one of Jason and Kelly

"Battle is between…Jason Malone….and…Kelly Connors." The monotone female voice spoke from her PDA.

Alice was even more confused now. How did the device know that they had agreed to the battle? How did the device get snapshots of them?

"Jason, Jason, Jason," Kelly shook her head disappointedly, before she stopped and that smirk from earlier returned. "Who said anything about Riolu battle Shinx."

Jason tensed up, unsure by what she meant.

"Riolu!" She ordered.

Without another word, Riolu quickly moved back to beside its Trainer. Shinx now had a puzzled looked on her face. Jason soon realized what Kelly was getting at when she pulled another Pokéball from her bag.

"You were the one who assumed I was using Riolu instead…" Kelly tossed the Pokéball a few feet in front of her.

The Pokéball popped open and a humanoid tan and orange feathered Pokémon stood up.

"Blaz! Blaziken!" The Pokémon roared the area around its wrist ignited in flames.

"…Shinx will be battling my Blaziken."

Jason was completely caught off guard. She had tricked him! He should of known. She'd pull similar ploys back in Trainer School, albeit those were in a more lighthearted manner.

Alice pulled her attention away from her PDA. She had a ton of questions for Kelly, but those were immediately put aside when she noticed the situation at hand.

"Jason, call off the battle!" She called out to him. "You really shouldn't have Shinx battle!"

Jason, unsure of what to do, pulled out his PDA and tapped on the POKEDEX app. Once the camera activated he aimed at the Blaziken, scanning it with the device.

"Blaziken, the Blaze Pokémon…" The Female voice spoke. "Blaziken has incredibly strong legs, it can easily clear a thirty story building in one leap. In battle, Blaziken blows out intense flames from its wrist and attacks foes courageously. This Pokémon's blazing punches leaves its enemies scorched and blackened."

"The Pokédex isn't going to help you." Kelly laughed mockingly. "But…" She pulled out her own PDA. "Guess it'd be fair to do the same."

"Shinx, the Flash Pokémon." Kelly's PDA spoke out loud. "This Pokémon generates electricity by contracting its muscles; the Electricity will then cause its fur to glow."

"Not much to go on." Kelly laughed as she put the device away. "Something tells me that I won't need the extra info anyway."

Jason gritted his teeth and glared at her for a moment, before glancing over at his Pokémon. Shinx was standing there, visibly trembling.

"S-Shinx!" He called out. "We don't need to battle if you don't want to!"

"As if!" Kelly argued. "You two are the ones who wanted to battle in the first place! You're not backing off now, especially since I've already wasted quite a bit of time! So, shut up and start battling!"

"Blaziken!" Kelly ordered. "Flamethrower!"

The Pokémon acknowledged the order, moving one foot forward it opened its mouth and fired off a stream of intense flames.

"Shi!" Shinx cried out before clumsily jumping out of the way.

Shinx landed and turned back to face Blaziken, but the Fire type was already right in front of Shinx, swing its leg in Shinx's direction. Shinx noticed it in time and managed to just jump up in time, putting a bit of distance between the two Pokémon.

"Shinx, Thundershock!" Jason called out to the Pokémon

Shinx hit the ground, sliding a bit before she was able to focus and fire off a small burst of yellow electricity. Without wasting a second, Blaziken ignited the flames around its wrist and used the flames to harmlessly deflect the electrical attack.

"Blaziken use Fire Punch." Kelly ordered.

Keepings its wrist ignited, Blaziken closed the distance immediately punching down towards Shinx as it did. The attack connected and Shinx was forced to the ground, kicking up dust from the impact.

"Inx!" Shinx cried out in pain as she was punched into the ground

When the dust had cleared, Shinx was being pinned to the ground by Blaziken, which had its right hand in a tight grip around the back of Shinx's neck.

"S-Shinx!" Jason cried out in horror

"Blaziken! Stop stalling! Wrap it up." Kelly had an unapologetic smile on her face.

Blaziken's grip got tighter as the flames emulating from its wrist increasing in intensity, causing Shinx to cry out in pain due to the heat. Shinx was lifted off the ground and tossed in the air effortlessly. Jason could only watch on in horror as his Pokémon was manhandled.

Blaziken jumped up after Shinx, igniting its right leg. Flipping in midair, Blaziken brought its flaming leg down onto Shinx, causing the Pokémon to yelp in pain and come crashing down back to the ground. Blaziken landed a few moments after that.

"Shinx!" Jason cried out.

"Jason, stop the battle!" Alice called out to him.

Shinx was lying on her side, unmoving. Blaziken was standing between Jason and Shinx, facing towards the downed Pokémon.

"And that's the end of that." Kelly seemed proud of herself.

"Sh-Shi." Shinx cried lightly as she slowly got to her feet.

Looks of surprise crossed over all of their faces.

"Sh-Shinx…stay down." Jason said at almost a whisper.

"W-Well, this is a surprise." Kelly said with a tinge of confusion in her voice. "Somehow Shinx is standing. You were always a bit of a decent Trainer, guess Shinx is finally showing results."

Jason didn't respond to her, instead just looking towards his Pokémon with concern.

"Blaziken, stop messing around!" Kelly shouted to her Pokémon.

Shinx started running forward, baring her fangs as it was aiming to attack Blaziken. Shinx jumped up towards the Fire Pokémon, but the moment she did Blaziken crouched down and struck Shinx on her underside launching her up into the air.

"Shinx!" Jason cried out

Shinx landed with a thud, right in front of Jason. The battle was over.

"S-Shinx!" Jason ran over, kneeling next to his Pokémon and lifting her up in his arms.

Shinx had the slight bruise mark here or there with the occasional small patch of burnt fur where Blaziken's attacks had made contact.

Alice looked down at her PDA as the words 'VICTORY GOES TO KELLY CONNORS' and 'Would you like to know more?' appeared on her screen. She tapped on the second phrase, which ended up being a link to the Connors Conglomerate website. The link had sent her to an article that the Conglomerate had set up its own voice recognition and tracking system that was built into the PDAs to notify the users when a Pokémon Battle was taking place near them. It was done in the hopes to increase competitiveness between all the participants.

"That's about how I thought it would go." Kelly laughed as she walked over next to her Pokémon, the two of them now facing their downed opponents. "Let this be proof that you're in over your head, Jason. You shouldn't be a Pokémon Trainer, you were never good at it and this time it'll be no different. You're Gym Challenge will end like the last one. You getting frustrated that you can't beat one of the Gym Leaders and then you'll run back home full of shame and disappointment. Only this time, there won't be a mommy for you to come back home to."

Her words stung. It was a combination of seeing Shinx injured in his arms, disappointment, and embarrassment, but tears had started to form in his eyes.

"You want to explain this crap!?" Alice had stepped between the two, unafraid of Kelly or the two Pokémon stand on either side. "So your dad's company is spying on us through the PDAs!"

Alice held up the PDA screen towards Kelly, Kelly glanced at it for a moment before turning back to meet Alice's gaze.

"So what?" Kelly said. "The PDA's mic is always on. It only looks for keywords before deciding if a battle is about to take place and sending out notifications to nearby users.

"That's the definition of spying!" Alice gripped Kelly's shoulder tightly.

Kelly grabbed her wrist, trying to get her to let go.

"Let me go." Kelly said to her.

"What else aren't you telling me about these PDAs? What other information is being gathered?" Alice questioned.

Riolu jumped up and used a greatly weakened Force Palm attack to separate the two. Alice stumbled back a bit, losing her footing momentarily, but regaining it in short order. Kelly's Blaziken and Riolu had moved in front of her, protecting her.

"Messing with you two has stopped being fun and is now just a waste of time." Kelly said, glaring at Alice. "I'm out of here."

She called back Blaziken to its Pokéball and started walking off towards the front of the lab, Riolu following right after her. Alice just glared at her, not taking her eyes off of her for a moment.

"I really hate her." She said quietly to herself.

"A-Alice…Shinx is…" Jason said as he stood up and moved closer to his cousin.

She turned to face him and quickly moved over to him. Shinx was breathing slowly and she had some bruises and slight burns all over her body.

"She's going to be okay." Alice said calmly. "The Pokémon Center is a bit far, but I'm sure Professor Oak has a restoration machine in his lab. Come one."

She turned to start running into the lab, with Jason not far behind.

"Hold on, Shinx." Jason said to his injured. "You'll be okay. You'll be okay…"

…

Jason and Alice sat in the lobby area of Professor Oak's Laboratory. They had gotten Shinx to Professor Oak, who in turn took her for healing, but not before giving Jason a lecture for letting Shinx battle to that point.

Jason said nothing as the two of them sat there, he just looked down towards the floor. Alice was sitting on the same couch as him, but she was scrolling on her PDA.

"She's never done that before." Jason suddenly said. "We battled a ton when were younger and I lost every time, but she was never that…brutal before."

"She's just a bully." Alice replied. "Next time I'll battle her and I'll shut her up."

"I should have stopped the battle, I should of known better."

"Yes, you should of." Alice replied. "But at the same time Kelly was intent on doing harm and was looking to take it out on you two."

"Yeah and now Shinx is hurt…" Jason sulked. "…I know Shinx will be fine, but Kelly made a fool of me and…dammit I…dammit!"

Alice sighed. "You lost, but that th-"

"Losing wasn't the issue." Jason said quietly. "She hurt my friend and I can't let her get away with that."

"Well Mr. Malone." Professor Oak said as he walked back into the lobby. "If you want to be a Trainer, that kind of comes with the territory."

In his arms was a sleeping Shinx, who looked better than she did before. Jason stood up and quickly went over to him; Alice had followed a moment after.

"She's fine." The Professor said before either of them could say anything. "She just needs rest. I'd recommend keeping her in her Pokéball until you get to Viridian City."

"Yes, Professor." Jason said as he retrieved Shinx's Pokéball. "Don't worry, Shinx, just take an easy in your Pokéball for now."

"Thank you, Professor," Alice spoke. "We were both very worried about her."

"Shinx is very resilient. I watched the security footage back after you two informed me of the events that took place." Oak spoke. "Even with the aid of the restoration machine, the fact that Shinx healed so quickly from the abuse that was dealt to her is quite a testament to her and her trainer." Professor Oak nodded in approval. "The previous battles that you and Shinx have fought seemed to have increased her defensive stats."

"See that, Jason," Alice playfully nudged her, still, down trotted cousin. "Guess Trainer's School was good for something."

Jason smiled slightly, but appreciated the reassurance nonetheless.

"Sorry for all the inconvenience we have caused you, Professor." He replied gratefully.

"Nonsense, consider it a thank you for when you and Shinx helped me around the lab." Oak paused for a moment, a debating look crossed over his face. "Jason…I don't usually like to play favorites, but know that I will be rooting for you…for both of you in particular." The Professor glanced at Alice for a moment before looked back towards Jason. "You two should get a move on. Miss Connors already has a thirty minute head start on you two, not to mention she also being escorted around in a limousine.

"WHAT!?" Alice exclaimed in shock.

Jason sighed.

"She has a limo and we have to walk!?" Alice continued. "How is that fair? Jason, how is that fair?"

Jason shook his head and turned around to head out of the lab.

"We have to walk across the entire Region and she just gets to zoom around in a limo!" Alice turned to follow him, still complaining about the unfairness of the world.

Professor Oak smiled apologetically at the two as they left. "Now I'm a little more worried about the two of them." He said to himself.

…

Alice continued her rant about the unfairness of the situation as the two of them exited the lab and proceeded to head to the gate to leave.

"I can't believe that she gets to travel in comfort…" Alice groaned.

"Well yeah, her family has money." Jason replied. "She was always one to take advantage of that."

"Well…It's not like I didn't walk across Johto during my initial journey." She reassured herself.

As the two were leaving through the giant stone gate a car horn sounded not too far from them. Both turned to see a familiar truck sitting still on the road near the lab. The doors opened on either side, from the driver side Jason's dad stepped out of the vehicle.

"Jason! Alice! We thought we had missed you." He sighed in relief.

From the other side, Jeremy and Amy disembarked from the vehicle.

"Alice! Jason!" Both of them called out to them as they excitedly ran towards them.

"We have gifts to give you guys." Jeremy said as he held out a small black box towards Alice.

"Yeah, here!" Amy held out a Pokéball towards Jason.

Alice knelt down next to Jeremy. "Thank you!" Alice gave him a hug and took the box.

Alice moved the small latch on the box and opened it, viewing the contents inside. There were eighteen different colored gems inside the box.

"What are these?" She asked.

"Dad called them Gems," Jeremy replied. "Said they were battle items."

Alice looked over each Gem quickly, examining each of them for a moment, before shutting the box and closed the latch. Jason's father had walked over to join them.

"This is for me?" Jason asked as he took the Pokéball from his sister.

"It's a Pokémon that me and Jeremy helped Dad raise it for you." Amy responded excitedly.

"A Pokémon?"

"This one was bred from one of my own Pokémon." Jason's father spoke. "Amy and Jeremy helped the Pokémon get acclimated."

Jason nodded to his father. He then pressed the button on the Pokéball causing it to open. There was a bright flash and a small humanoid, bipedal Pokémon with gray skin appeared.

"Machop." The Pokémon cried as he appeared.

The Machop looked over towards Jason, looking him over, before offering him a quick salute. Jason smiled towards the Pokémon.

"Hey Machop, looks like you're going to be join me on my journey." Jason said to the Pokémon. "Let's work together and make this journey memorable."

The Pokémon nodded at him.

"Glad to have you on the team." Jason saluted back to the Pokémon.

Jason's dad smiled and nodded at the two. "Good, glad to see you two hitting it off."

"Thank you." Jason said. "All of you."

"Oh good, you two are still here."

Everyone looked towards the gate and noticed Professor Oak standing at the gate, holding a package.

"Professor, is everything okay?" Alice asked.

"If you two have a chance, I need someone to deliver this to my assistant." Oak motioned towards the package in his hands.

"We can do that." Jason replied.

"Thank you." Oak smiled, handing off the package to Jason. "My assistant is probably in Cerulean City or in one of the surround Routes. I'll give him a call so he can keep an eye out for you."

Jason removed his backpack, opening up the biggest compartment and placing the box inside.

"Consider it delivered." Alice reassured the Professor

Professor Oak nodded approvingly. "I have the upmost faith in you two, but don't forget that delivering isn't the main reason for the journey.

The two nodded.

"And remember, if you two run into trouble, you can always come back home." Jason's dad spoke. "Don't be afraid to call for help either. Your Pokemon are also there to help you, so take care of them, and…"

"We'll be okay, dad." Jason interrupted. "I have Alice with me this time, so everything will be fine this time."

"Alright, just…be careful…both of you." His father placed his hands on each of their shoulders, before taking them off a moment later.

"We'll both be worrying about you guys." Amy spoke as her and Jeremy stood next to each other, both looking slightly sad.

"Yeah, we're going to miss you, Jason." Jeremy spoke.

Jason knelt down in front of his siblings and embraced both of them with a hug.

"I'll miss both of you too." He replied, put then pulled away slightly. "But don't worry about me, I'll be sure to call and check in a lot."

He pulled away from them and stood up. Taking Machop's Pokéball in hand, he aimed the device at Machop, returning it to the Pokéball.

"We should probably be heading out Jason." Alice spoke. "Kelly already has an head start."

He nodded at her and then looked back at the group that consisted of his family and the Professor.

"We appreciate everything you've done for us Professor." Alice spoke.

"Of course," The Professor replied. "If you do need anything else, please feel free to ask. Also, don't forget to deliver that package."

"Yes, Professor." Alice nodded.

"And thank you guys." Jason said to his family. "I'll be sure to call you guys whenever we get to a new town."

"We'll be waiting for that call." His father replied. "Don't do anything too overbearing and be careful."

"We'll be careful." Jason said, although he felt like he had said that ten times today.

Jason and Alice turned and started to walk away from them, turning and waving to them until they were a bit of a ways away from them.

"Are you going to miss them?" Alice asked, after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah," He replied. "But this journey isn't just for me it's also for them."

The 'Welcome to Pallet Town' loomed over them as they walked on to Route 1, starting off their new Journey.

_**Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you liked and hated about this chapter!**_


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